Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange

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Charles Du Fresne, Seigneur Du Cange.
Statue for Dufresne du Cange on René Goblet Square in Amiens

Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange (also Ducange ; Carolus Dufresne Du Cange ) (born December 18, 1610 in Amiens , † October 23, 1688 in Paris ) was a French lawyer and lexicographer .

Du Cange was one of the greatest lexicographers in the Western tradition, on a par with Robert and Henri Estienne , Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm , James Murray and William A. Craigie (Considine).

Life

He was the fifth son of Louis Du Fresne, sieur de Frédeval et du Cange , who was royal bailiff of Beauquène near Amiens. He first attended the Jesuit college in Amiens. He later studied law in Orléans and was admitted to the Parlement in Paris on August 11, 1631 . However, he soon returned to Amiens, where on July 19, 1638 he married Catherine Du Bos, ten years his junior, daughter of the treasurer ( trésorier ) of Amiens. She brought a notable dowry into the marriage. In the same year his father died and left him a house in Amiens and other property as well as the title of sieur du Cange . On June 10, 1645, he bought the office that had been held by his father-in-law until 1668. He became the father of ten children, four of whom survived.

Even at twenty, he had issued a crest genealogy written his family. Back in Amiens, he was so zealous about historical studies that he was said to have done six or seven hours of research on the day of his wedding. In 1657 he published the first historical work that already contained a detailed glossary. In 1668 he left Amiens because of the plague and went to Paris, where he worked as a private scholar. There he won the friendship of Léon d'Hérouval, a scholar with the same interest, who gave him devoted support over the next few decades. Du Cange declined to hire a secretary and wrote everything by hand.

As a basis for his studies, he acquired a deep knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages , for each of which he developed extensive dictionaries with many explanations of subjects, of which the Latin glossary ad scriptores mediae et infimae latinitatis was expanded by a number of scholars and extended into the 21st century. It was used by scholars in the 19th century for middle and younger Latin. The Greek glossary is still used in research today. His Historia Byzantina , consisting of the genealogy “De familiis Byzantinis” and the four-volume topography “Constantinopolis Christiana”, is considered an important work on Byzantine history. He also contributed to the publication of the Corpus Byzantinae historiae , a source edition on Byzantine history.

Much of his work has not been published. His rich estate is kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France , the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris and the Amiens City Library. The manuscripts show that he was primarily concerned with the history of France and its home landscape , Picardy , the Latin West and the Byzantine Empire .

Publications (selection)

  • Traité historique du chef de saint Jean-Baptiste . Paris 1665 ( digitized ).
  • Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae latinitatis . Paris 1678 (3 volumes)
    • New edition: Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, a Carolo Du Fresne, domino Du Cange, digessit GA L [ouis] Henschel , Paris 1840–1850, editio nova. 10 volumes, ed. by Léopold Favre , Paris 1883–1887; Reprint Graz 1954.
  • Historia byzantina duplici commentario illustrata . Paris 1680 ( digitized 2 volumes)
  • Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae Graecitatis, in quo graeca vocabula novatae significationis, aut usus rarioris, barbara, extica, ecclesiastica, liturgica, tactica, nomica, jatrica, botanica, chymica explicantur, eorum notiones & originationes reteguntur ... E libris editis ... ineditis veteribus monumentis. Accedit appendix ad glossarium mediae & infimae latinitatis, una cumbravi etymologico linguae gallicae ex utoque glossario . Lyon 1688 (2 volumes). - 2nd edition: Welter, Paris 1905. - Reprint: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz 1958.
  • Histoire de l'état de la ville d'Amiens et de ses comtes, avec un recueil de plusieurs titres concernant l'histoire de cette ville, qui n'ont pas encore esté publiez . Amiens 1840 (posthumous, digitized ).
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personal data
SURNAME You Cange, Charles du Fresne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cange, Charles du Fresne, Seigneur du; Ducange, Charles du Fresne, sieur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French lawyer and lexicographer
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1610
PLACE OF BIRTH Amiens
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 1688
Place of death Paris